The Curious Cases of Enoch Pike
by Lord umbrex
Summary: Enoch Pike is not a normal man and he does not have a normal job. On a daily basis he is reminded that the world is much more majestic than first glimpse would have you believe; instead, it is a world full of wonder and curiosity just hidden behind the cloak of normalcy. Follow him as he investigates one strange mystery after another, all of them set in the world of Harry Potter.


The Curious Cases of Enoch Pike

Disclaimer: All JKR's, not mine.

Summary: Enoch Pike is not a normal man and he does not have a normal job. On a daily basis he is reminded that the world is much more majestic than first glimpse would have you believe. Follow him as he investigates one strange mystery after another, all of them set in the world of Harry Potter.

A/N: Happy Halloween, everyone!

S/N: In honor of Halloween, I figured I would post this. This is a one shot that could become an anthology. As of right now, it's a one shot, but if I think of more interesting cases for Enoch to investigate, I may update this story. Hope you enjoy!

The Case of the Chestnut UFO

Promptly at 8 o'clock in the morning, the bell of an alarm clock rang through a darkened bedroom, causing the sleeping occupier to tiredly roll over to turn it off. Forcing himself awake, the man in his mid-twenties swung his legs over the side of his bed and sat up, rubbing the crusty sleep out of his eyes with his hands. Stifling a yawn, he rose from his bed and trekked across the room, walking through the door and entering the bathroom. He flipped on the light and took a few steps towards the tub, before reaching down and turning on the hot faucet, preparing himself to take a shower.

After ten minutes or so, he shut off the water and stepped out of the tub, grabbing a towel from the rack and drying himself off. Wrapping the towel tightly around his waist, he brushed his teeth, combed his crew-styled hair, and then exited the bathroom, walking over to the mahogany bureau that was in the corner of his bedroom. He used the towel and completely dried himself off, tossing the towel into the corner and turning his attention to the bureau in front of him. Opening the top drawer, he grabbed his undergarments and then made his way over to the walk-in closet, where he pulled one of the many black suits off of the rack.

Five minutes later, he exited the closet carrying a pair of polished black oxfords, wearing a black suit, a white shirt, and a black tie. He sat on the edge of his bed and went to put on his shoes, before realizing that he had forgotten to grab a pair of socks. Jumping up, he took a few steps over to the bureau once more and grabbed a pair of black socks from the top drawer, and then returned to the bed. Once he was dressed and ready for the day, he walked towards the bedroom door, making sure to grab the briefcase that held inside all he needed for work that was resting at the base of the door before he exited the room.

He wasn't particularly hungry that morning so he forwent breakfast, instead just grabbing a glass of orange juice and downing it in one gulp. Looking down at his watch and noticing the time, he quickly put the glass in the sink and made his way towards the door to leave, making sure to pick up his wallet that was sitting in a bowl by the door. He opened the door, took a step into the hallway, and closed the door shut behind him, locking it all the while. With a hop to his step, he walked down the stairs of his building and stepped out into the sunny morning, ready for the day ahead of him.

It was a cool, brisk day, the thirtieth of October, as he started down the street, heading to his office a few blocks away. While there were other modes of transportation that would allow him to arrive earlier, he enjoyed walking, finding that it helped him in his work. Additionally, he knew the health benefits far outweighed the extra time it took. As he walked, his eyes drifted over the various shops that were hanging decorations for Halloween, the holiday where kids would run around the neighbourhood in search of candy all the while wearing costumes that were either scary, funny, relevant, or just plain strange.

Nearing nine o'clock, he entered a seven story brick office building. He walked through the lobby, nodding his head to the two security guards that waved him through, and made his way over to the stairs in the far corner. There were people bustling about, all getting to their respective jobs, some of whom waved to him as he walked. There were about a hundred that worked in entire building, each a member of varying departments and bureaus. His office was on the second floor, so after walking up the single flight of stairs, he arrived to work, where he placed his briefcase on his desk and grabbed the mail that was in his bin. Seeing nothing important, he walked over to his boss's office, saying good morning to his friends along the way, and gave the door a couple of swift knocks.

"Hey Enoch," The boss said, sitting down in his chair with a cup of hot coffee in his hand. In front of him on the center of the desk, surrounded by various pieces of paper and letters and other knickknacks, was a placard engraved in gold lettering that read Indrid Frost. "Just the person I wanted to see."

"Have a case for me?" Enoch asked in a curious tone, wondering what he would be doing and where he would be going for the day.

"You handled that black market case last week, right?" Indrid questioned interestedly, trying to remember for himself.

"Yeah, I did, why?" Enoch questioned, recalling the dangerous case that he tackled the week prior. It was a group that were selling dangerous, illegal items to innocent people, endangering countless of lives and causing a great deal of worry to his superiors.

"Good, then take this one, it should be easier," Indrid nodded, tossing a paper over to Enoch as he entered further into the room. "Page 16." Enoch quickly flipped through the pages until he came about page 16 and saw the story that Indrid was referencing. "This came to us from one of the officials a floor or two above; they want us to check it out."

"UFOs?" Enoch said, looking up at his boss, a perplexed look on his face. "Really now?" He sighed, shaking his head in disappointment. "Really?"

"This one will need your particular set of skills to handle," Indrid grinned, amused by Enoch's lack of excitement at the case. "Just go up there, poke around, investigate it, see if it concerns us, and if it does, you know what to do, and if not, you get an easy day up by the lake. Good deal, I say. Plus, consider yourself lucky: back when I did what you do in the late 70s, these things happened once a week, and most of the time, they were supposed alien close encounters, not simply UFOs."

"Fair enough," Enoch nodded, reconsidering the unpleasantness of the assignment. After all, an easy day by the lake sounded very nice to him, even if he would have to investigate something he didn't feel was worthwhile. "It's in the village of Manitou Crescent?"

"Take a car, it's less conspicuous," Indrid said flippantly, as he started to go through the various papers that were on his desk, starting his day's work. "See you."

"Bye," Enoch replied, walking back out of the private office and entering the larger office of the department. He went over to the large map that was on the wall that showed the surrounding areas and traced the route that he would need to take in order to get to his destination, making sure to remember each road and exit that he needed to take.

"You're going north today?" A man said walking up to Enoch as he studied the map. Similarly to the black suit that Enoch wore, the man too wore a dark suit with a white shirt and a dark tie.

"Yeah, to this lake town," Enoch nodded, his eyes flicking over to the man, who seemed to be studying the map as well. "What about you, Fox?"

"I'm still working on that case from last week," Fox replied, shaking his head. "Good luck, Nuck," He said, before walking over to his desk that had a placard named 'Renard Muller' on its front. Enoch turned his attention back to the map, tracing his finger down the route that he would be taking.

Remembering the directions and seeing that it would be about an hour long drive, Enoch walked back over to his desk to collect his things. He grabbed his briefcase, nodded his head to a friend that had the desk next to him, and left the office once more, heading down to the first floor and exiting the back of the building, where there was a parking lot filled with around a dozen cars of varying sizes and makes. He walked over to a man that stood next to a small garage-like building, who greeted him warmly.

"Nuckie, how's it go?" The man said in a thick eastern accent. He was tanned man with a bald head and a muscular build, one that showed that he probably was not someone to be triffled with.

"Not bad, Dom, what about you?" Nuckie returned as he stopped around five feet away from the man.

"Good, good, Lizzy's almost due," Dom replied happily, a lightness to his voie that only fatherhood could bring. "I've been kind of busy with that, though I'm sure you can imagine."

"Really?" Nuckie smiled at that revelation, happy that Dom's child was almost in the world. "Congratulations. I'll have to tell Sidra that, she was wondering about it. I'm sure you'll be getting a call from her within a few days. How have you been with that?"

"Been buying up all the toys and games I could find," Dom recalled with a laugh. "I think the only thing left on the shelves was some Australian thing that changes colors or something."

"Don't spoil her too much," Nuckie grinned, knowing that Dom was going to be a good father. While he looked tough, like many with that appearance, Dom was a really nice and tender man inside, one that didn't like fighting.

"Lizzy said the same thing," Dom replied with a sigh, recalling how his wife yelled at him to stop buying new things. "So, do you need a car?"

"Yeah," Nuckie nodded in the affirmative, hoping he could finagle a comfortable ride for the day. "I'm going north for a case."

"Take the one in the fifth spot, I just filled it up with gas," Dom said, walking into the shed and grabbing a set of keys, before coming out and handing them over to Nuckie.

"Thank you," Nuckie said, making his way over to the car that he had been given. "And give my regards to Lizzy."

"Will do!" Dom called out, before retaking his seat and returning to his paper.

Nuckie hopped into his car, an unmarked black sedan, put the keys into the ignition and slowly drove off the lot. After spending a few minutes weaving through the city traffic, he was on the expressway and heading north to his destination, a tiny lake town called Manitou Crescent that was nestled on a small patch of land on the shores of the Great Lake. He didn't know much about its history, having never been there himself, a fact that would make his investigation harder. Without knowing about the entire town, he would be unable to relate to the townspeople, which made obtaining information much more difficult. However, he pushed all that aside, instead focusing on just getting there with enough time to complete his investigation.

To that end, the drive up went smoothly. While driving wasn't his first choice and he didn't do it very much, he had to admit that there was a certain peacefulness to it that he very rarely experienced in his life. The relatively simple, yet arduous task of focusing on the road, braking and accelerating was a series of actions that lulled him into comfort, though he couldn't exactly explain why. He could understand how small children fell asleep during car rides, as the sounds and the spinning wheels underneath the car really made it fairly easy to drift off into dreamland.

He arrived a little before 10:30, and parked his car on what appeared to be the main street of the town. He grabbed the newspaper that he had flung onto the passenger's seat, and flipped through the pages, searching for the article once more. It read:

_A Chestnut UFO in Crescent?_

_Here is a reader submitted photo showing what the reader says was a "chestnut-shaped UFO that was brighter than the sun." In addition to the UFO, the reader says that there were two beings, one tall with a long pointer finger, and the other short with stubby legs and grey skin. The sighting was at the Forest St. entrance to the marina. The photograph was taking on the reader's phone at around ten o'clock last night. _

After giving the article one more look, he grabbed a notepad and a pen from his briefcase and exited the car, making the short trek to the newspaper's office a few blocks away. As he walked, his eyes moved around the streets, studying it to learn more about the area. It was mid-morning, so not many people were on the street, but even still, he made an effort to avoid being seen, not wanting people to get nervous or suspicious by his presence. The streets were lined with trees that had brown and red leaves, the autumn weather in full effect. After a few more minutes of walking, he arrived outside of an office building that had a sign that showed the paper's presence.

He wore his jacket unbuttoned in an effort to ease the people he had questions. Along with that, he did not wear sunglasses like many of his colleagues did, instead preferring people to see his eyes, feeling that it gave them a sense of comfort that allowed them to open up more than they normally would. He made his way into the building, searching for the offices of the Newspaper. He found it at the end of the hall, and entered through the labeled door, walking up to the desk that served as a reception area. There was a man in his late forties, early fifties sitting at the desk, seemingly engrossed in paperwork.

"Hello, my name is Agent Pike, and I'm here to ask a few questions to the editor, if that's possible," Enoch said, flashing a golden badge, before placing it back into his pocket.

"In regards to the letter we ran the other day?" The receptionist replied, looking up at Enoch. "I knew we shouldn't have allowed that in." He sighed, rubbing his forehead with his right hand. "What can I do you for?"

"You're the editor?" Nuckie asked, a bit surprised by that revelation. He had thought there would be more people working at the paper, rather than just the editor.

"The editor of the town's section, yeah," The man nodded, rising to his feet to talk to Nuckie. "It's only my sister and me here, so we tend to do a lot of the work. My name is Byron Wells."

The two men shook each other's hand, before the editor came around the desk. "Okay, well, do you know the back story behind it?" Nuckie questioned, taking out his pad and pen to take notes. "What happened before the sighting?"

"Not really, just that we received an envelope with the picture and the letter and told them to print it with the name anonymous," Wells said, gesturing for Nuckie to follow him into the back room, where he grabbed the envelope that held the originals. He handed them over to Nuckie, who took out the picture and gave it a look: he still couldn't see what the object exactly was, but to him, it looked a little like a bonfire.

"Do you know who sent it?" Nuckie questioned as he tried to decipher the picture.

"Sure," Wells nodded, knowing exactly who took the picture. "He's a friend of mine, the name is Elliot Neary. The address of his home is right there on the envelope if you need that."

"Does he have a history of making things up?" Nuckie asked, wondering if the original witness was known for fabricating stories. If the original witness wasn't truthful, then who is to say the entire thing wasn't just a scam?

"Elliot?" Wells replied quizzically, earning a nod from Nuckie. "Nah, he's not one to make something up. I won't lie and say he doesn't believe in this type of stuff, but he's never made anything up before. I only ran the letter because he's a friend, that's all."

"So you don't believe in this then?" Nuckie inquired, trying to see how much skepticism the editor had.

"You mean aliens?" He questioned with a raised eyebrow, but Nuckie stayed silent, allowing him to answer as he pleased. "Of course not, we're not that type of paper."

Nuckie nodded his head as he took the time to write down some thoughts in his notepad. "Then what do you believe the picture shows?"

"A very bright object, that's it," The editor said with a shrug, having no other opinion than that. "It could be a light, it could be a burning pile of wood, I have no idea. It's too bright to really see anything. It certainly doesn't automatically show a flying saucer, though."

"Do you know where this happened?" Nuckie asked with a raised eyebrow, hoping to take a trip to the location in order to gather some more information.

"In the grove at the Forest St. boat landing, down by the lake," The editor answered, knowing the spot well. "It's only a few blocks away, there are signs leading to it just outside here."

"Do you know anything else about this?" Nuckie inquired, wanting to be sure that he had attained all of the information that the editor had about the picture.

"Nope, that's about it," Wells replied after a moment's thought, shaking his head all the while.

"Is this the only copy of the picture and the letter that you have?" Nuckie questioned, holding the envelope in the air to show to Wells.

"Yes," The editor agreed with a nod, having not made a copy of either.

Nuckie bit his lip and looked down at his notepad, before flicking his eyes back up to the editor. "Have you spoken to anyone else in the paper about it?"

"No," Wells replied with a bit of a laugh. "I sent the letter and picture out to the printer myself. I have no interest in ruining my name by talking about it."

Nuckie finished writing his notes, and then pocketed his notebook and pen, giving the editor a small smile. "Thanks, I think that's all I have for you."

"No problem," The editor said, watching as Nuckie reached into his pocket and pulled out a long, thin stick. "What is that?"

"This, this is nothing," Nuckie smiled, before there was a flash of light and the editor's eyes took a glazed over look. "If anyone asks, the image is of a bonfire caused by swamp gas. The object they saw in the air was simply a shooting star. And the object that came out of the water was just fish jumping out."

Then, before the editor's eyes returned to normal, Nuckie turned and walked out of the door, the envelope, inside of which was the picture and letter, held tightly in his hand, his wand returned to his pocket once more. As he was walking down the hall, heading towards the exit, he pondered the case, wondering why he was sent on such a weird assignment. Usually he dealt with more fantasy sightings, like unicorns or goblins, but not ones that were based in muggle science. However, he knew it was his job to investigate it, so with that in mind, he shuttered his unhappy thoughts and focused on figuring out just what the witnesses had seen.

After all, he was an agent, a shadow man, a U (or M) man, a trained officer sent to investigate both crimes and potential magical happenings around the area for the Office of Magical Law Enforcement for the Ministry of Magic. Unlike other Ministries in the English-speaking world, which often had Aurors and Obliviators serving as different positions, the Office of Magical Law Enforcement combined the two positions, with one person serving as both an investigatory officer and a memory eraser should it be needed. However, even with that, in case of mass sightings of magical activity, the Office did have wizards or witches specialists that served as Obliviators on the large groups, as well as Hit Wizards, that were sent out should a magical emergency happen or to apprehend a known dangerous criminal. The shadow men, meanwhile, so called because they are rarely remembered but for a faint memory and recognizable only by de ja vu, were the most trained of the bunch, and were highly skilled in their jobs.

Before long, he returned to his car in order to think about what he wanted to do next. He was either going to go to the eye witnesses home or the place where the experience happened as either would give him some more information that he desperately needed. Deciding, he hopped into his car and drove down the Forest St. boat entry, where he parked next to a wooded opening, which he assumed was the grove that Wells had spoken about during their meeting.

Deciding to try and experience the sighting from the witness' viewpoint, he walked over to the water, standing on the edge of the boat entry, and looked towards the wooded area about fifty yards or so in the distance. He looked down at the picture that was in his hands, before looking back at the grove, and then back down at the picture, taking a few steps over to the right in order to be at the exact spot the picture was taken. Believing himself to be standing in position, he looked at the grove once more, seeing if he would be able to make out anything.

It was a good distance away, he noted. And with the trees around it, shadows were present in nearly every direction. The opening in the trees was small, with the alcove being no larger than twenty by twenty patch of grass and dirt. He entered the grove, looking down at the grass in front of him, trying to see if there were any markings or signs that a UFO did indeed land there. There were four indentures in the grass, divots in the lawn in the shape of a rectangle, but he immediately noticed that the grass was not burnt or scorched in anyway, ruling out his bonfire idea. Whatever it was, he knew it wasn't fire in the picture that created the brightness, but instead something else, something that didn't leave a mark on the ground. The grass was muddy, however, something he did take note of in his notebook.

Just as he was about to leave, a gleam in the corner of his eyes caught his attention, and he walked over to where it seemed to be coming from and bent down. There, in the grass, were a few tiny shards of glass, broken into small pieces as if sand had been melted or something. "I wonder what that could be from," Nuckie questioned to himself, biting his lip as he stood back to survey the area once more.

Keeping those things in mind, he walked back to his car, intending on going to see the eyewitness for himself. Looking down at the address that was given to him, he went back to the center of town and asked directions from the first person he saw, before heading out in the direction relayed to him.

He arrived at a small house a few minutes later, and after giving one long look around the neighborhood, he walked up tot eh front door and gave it a small knock. "Hello?" A woman said through the opening in the door, not recognizing Nuckie.

"Hello, my name is Agent Pike, and I was wondering if Elliot Neary lives here," Nuckie said, flashing his badge to the woman.

"Yeah," The woman nodded, opening the door wider and letting Nuckie inside. "He's right through that door." She said, pointing to a wooden door off to the side.

"Thanks," Nuckie replied, heading over to the door and giving it a knock. Hearing the muffled call, he slowly opened the door and saw a man sitting at a desk in the corner, across from a couch and a leather chair. It seemed to be an office of some kind, and though Nuckie wasn't sure, he thought it looked similar to the way a psychiatrist's office would look. "Mr. Neary?" Nuckie questioned, earning a questioning nod from the man. "My name is Agent Pike."

"Are you here to hear what I experienced the other night?" Mr. Neary replied, rising to his feet to greet Nuckie.

"Yes," Nuckie nodded, placing his badge back in his suit pocket. "I would like to just ask you a few questions if that's okay with you."

"Sure," Mr. Neary said, gesturing for Nuckie to take a seat on the couch across from him as he took a seat in the chair. "What would you like to know?"

Nuckie quietly took out his notepad and his pen, not wanting to miss anything that Mr. Neary had to say. "What did you see, Mr. Neary?"

"Please, call me Elliot," Elliot started, flicking his eyes to the floor, trying to think about what he wanted to stay. "After lifting the boat from the water, something caught my eye. As I turned to look, there was a chestnut shaped object, glowing a bright blue, which lifted out of the lake, flew about a hundred yards or so, and crashed into the ground, though it didn't explode."

Nuckie loooked up from his notes when Elliot paused, cocking an eyebrow in confusion. "Anything else?"

"Yes," Elliot nodded, taking a breath, though he didn't seem nervous to be speaking of the event. "There were two beings, one was tall and looked relatively human, but another was short, with what appeared to be large, bright eyes, an oversized head, and he was skinny, much skinnier than a human could be and much shorter, too. It was weird looking; it had thin arms and short legs. I wasn't close enough to see what color it's skin was, but from what I could see, it looked pale, so it could have been grey."

"Grey?" Nuckie muttered, staring at Elliot with a confused expression. "What makes you think that?"

"That's what aliens look like, no?" Elliot shrugged, imagining the short grey aliens that were littered throughout pop culture.

"What happened next?" Nuckie asked, not wanting to know about anything but the facts. Elliot bringing in what other people thought aliens looked like did not help him find out what actually happened, so he paid it no mind and instead just focused on what Elliot definitively saw the night in question.

"They seemed to fix the problem what forced them to crash, returned to the vehicle, and then took off once more, disappearing into the night." Elliot finished, recalling that the experience lasted no more than a minute or two. "I tried to watch it fly as long as I could, but eventually the trees and the darkness of the sky prevented me from seeing it and it disappeared."

"How did they return to the vehicle?" Nuckie inquired, wanting to see if the supposed aliens teleported or entered the craft through a door.

"I am not sure, the object was too bright, it was hard to look at completely," Elliot said, shaking his head in the negative.

Nuckie nodded understandingly, but disappointed that Elliot couldn't answer. "Have you ever seen anything like that? Do you have a history of reporting such things? What do you think it was?"

"No, it was my first time seeing something of that magnitude, though I do consider myself a believer in UFOs and aliens, if that's what you mean," The man replied, not the least big ashamed to admit such a thing. "As for your last question, I think it was an alien ship. I admit, it was dark out and the object was bright and I didn't get as good of a look at it as I would have liked, but it was not something I've ever seen before, I can assure you of that."

Nuckie stared into Elliot's eyes, gauging the truthfulness of the man's words. To him, Elliot seemed like a truthful guy, one that wouldn't fabricate such a story, which forced Nuckie to admit that it wasn't hoaxed by the picture taker, but instead someone else, if the object truly wasn't of an extraterrestrial origin. "Who else did you tell this story to, besides the paper?" Nuckie questioned, needing to know in order to see if he had to erase the memory of other people.

"Just my family, I wanted to see the reaction to the newspaper story first before I went blabbing to everyone else about it," Elliot answered simply, having relayed what had happened to his sister and parents. "I haven't gotten a chance to talk about it before now."

"Who else was present there at the experience?" Nuckie asked, watching as the man looked down and did not meet his gaze, apparently not wanting to divulge that information. "It's okay; I simply need the name for my report."

"There were three of us; we were just getting off of Barney's boat for the night. The two others were Betty Jones and Barney Williams." Elliot replied, revealing the other two witnesses of the event.

"And their numbers and addresses?" Nuckie asked, pushing his notepad over to the man to write the information down. After a few minutes, the man handed the notebook back over to Nuckie, who looked down at it and saw that there was only one address for the pair. "They live together?"

"Yes," The man nodded in the affirmative. "Do you need anything else?"

Nuckie pocketed the notepad, and then met Elliot's gaze. "Can I see the phone with which you took the pictures?"

"Sure," The man said, reaching over to his desk and grabbing his cell phone off of it. Scrolling through his cellular phone, he searched for the picture that he had taken two nights before. When the picture was up on the screen, he handed the phone over to Nuckie, allowing the agent to view it for himself.

"Thanks," Nuckie said, looking at the photo: it was the same one that he had seen at the newspaper. He selected a few buttons and deleted the photo, scrolling through the next few pictures to make sure there were no others; he found three more, so he deleted them like he had the first. "Are these the only ones?" He asked, looking up to the man, trying to gauge whether he was lying or not.

"Yes," The man agreed, inwardly wondering why Nuckie was asking if those were the only pictures.

"Did your friends take pictures?" Nuckie inquired in a curious tone, making sure that he did not overlook anything. It was his job to tie up the loose ends, and if he missed something, it was his career that would suffer because of it.

"No, I was the only one," Elliot replied, remembering that he was the only one with a phone on him at the time-the other two had their phones inside the car.

"Okay," Nuckie smiled, trying to ease the man's nerves, seeing that he was getting a bit worried by Nuckie's presence. He handed the phone back to the man, who took it and placed it inside his pocket. "Well, I guess I'll just do one last thing and then leave, if that's okay."

"Alright," Elliot said, watching as Nuckie took a step forward to be closer to him. He watched confusedly as Nuckie reaching into his pocket and grabbed his wand, not understanding what Nuckie was doing. "What's that?"

"Obliviate!" Nuckie whispered, before there was a flash of light and the man's eyes glassed over for a few seconds. "You didn't see what you thought you saw last night," Nuckie continued, earning another flash of light. "What you actually saw was just a bon fire, which was cleaned up by the time you returned to the scene. A jumping fish is what you saw come out of the lake, nothing else." The glassy look in the man's eyes disappeared, returning the man to his natural appearance.

Nuckie had just erased the memory of the woman that had answered the door and exited the house when the man went back to normal, allowing Nuckie's appearance at the house to be just a figment of the family's imagination. He didn't worry about the fact that the man's family had heard the story, since they didn't view it firsthand: firsthand accounts were what led to magic being exposed, not second hand stories as they were just rumors. If the family was to ask Elliot about the event, he would reply with the new facts that Nuckie had implanted in his mind, rather than the original story told. With that in mind, he knew where he had to go next in order to be sure he covered everything up. Looking down at the piece of paper in his hands, he hopped back into his car and drove to his next destination, the house of Barney Williams and Betty Jones.

He still didn't know whether this was a magical exposure situation or not. And, if it was a magical exposure situation, it was hard to identify what the wizard or witch could have been doing if the story was true. On one hand, he had a tough time understanding what it could be, magically speaking, that the muggles had seen; on the other, however, he knew very well how crazy the idea of actual aliens sounded. After all, could aliens really come down to the planet in their spaceships like the muggles were speaking about? Did aliens make it a habit to reveal themselves to residents of a small town that no one had ever heard about before this? He doubted it very much, which led him to believe that it was a magical incident, and he just needed to figure out what it was and who was behind it.

Before he knew it, he was arriving at his next stop, a farm house at the edge of the town. He drove up the driveway and parked his car to the side of it, before gathering his things and exiting the car. He saw a tall man working on the undercarriage of a tractor as he walked up to the house, and he quickly made his way towards him, hoping that it was Barney Williams. "Hello?" Nuckie called out, not wanting to startle the man and injure him.

The man rolled out from under the tractor, and got to his feet. "Can I help you?" The man questioned, wiping his greasy hands with a red cloth as he looked over to Nuckie.

"Hi, yes, my name is Agent Pike, and I'm looking for Barney Williams and Betty Jones," Nuckie said, wondering if this was the right house or if he had gotten the address wrong.

"I knew that letter would bring you people," A female voice said from behind Nuckie, earning the wizard's attention. "You're here about that UFO thing, am I right?"

"Ah, yeah, I just wanted to ask a few questions, that's all," Nuckie said, giving her a small smile, hoping that she wasn't as contentious as she seemed. "Are you Betty Jones?"

"And I'm Barney Williams," The man from before said, coming around Nuckie and standing next to Betty. "I was just about to take a lunch break, you have ten minutes," Barney said, as he gestured for Nuckie to follow him and Betty into the house. They walked into the kitchen a few moments later, with both the owners of the house taking a seat at the table that was in the corner, while Nuckie sat across from them.

"Can you tell me what happened the other night?" Nuckie started, hoping to hear their telling of the story in order to be able to note the similarities and differences between their version and Elliot Neary'.

"We didn't see anything," Betty replied, not divulging anything. From his spot next to her, Barney rose from his seat and cross the kitchen to the refrigerator that was in the corner.

"Elliot Neary says you did," Nuckie responded calmly, not at all perturbed by her response. He was used to witnesses not revealing anything, and it was up to his skill as an interviewer to retrieve the information that he needed.

"Betty, let's just answer the man's questions so he can get out of here and away from us quicker," Barney said, pouring himself a glass of juice and walking back to the table. "We were just docking my boat, when something bright rose out of the water, flew high above us, and landed about a football field away."

"How far is a football field again?" Nuckie questioned as he took notes, not remembering the distance of the field.

"You kidding?" Betty laughed, and then upon seeing Nuckie's expression, she added, "A hundred yards."

"Right, sorry, I'm more of a baseball fan," Nuckie replied with a smile, hoping they believed it. After all, he was a big fan of quodpot, and he doubted very much that they would be able to tell him the length of a quodpot pitch. "After the bright object landed, what happened next?"

"We saw two people walk around the object: one was small, the other taller," Barney replied, filling Nuckie in on the fact that there were people around the object other than their group.

Nuckie nodded as he wrote, recognizing the synchronicity between the couple's story and Elliot Neary' story. "Did you get a good look at them?"

"No, it was way too bright for that," Betty answered, shaking her head in the negative. "We could barely make out that there were two people to begin with."

"Yeah, it was brighter than a spotlight would be, and since the surrounding area was pitch black, it was nearly impossible to see." Barney agreed next to her, not really having anything more to add to it—it was too bright to actually see any characteristics of the people.

"How big was the object?" Nuckie inquired next, hoping to be able to pinpoint what the object was after hearing the facts.

"Ten feet?" Barney said after a moment of thought, looking over to Betty to see if she agreed with his assessment. She nodded her head next to him, but stayed silent, allowing him to estimate the object's size. "About five feet high, too from what we could see."

"What did it look like?" Nuckie asked, turning the page in his notebook and shaking his hand in an effort to alleviate the cramp that had taken hold of his writing hand.

"Like we said, it was too bright," Betty said firmly, not wanting Nuckie to expect them to be able to answer all of his questions.

"So no general shape?" Nuckie prodded, hoping to dig as deeply into their memories of the experience as possible. He wanted everything they could recall as it allowed him a greater chance to solving what they saw in the first place.

"The light was kind of circular or oval, I guess, but I couldn't see the actual object shape itself, no," Barney shook his head, unable to give more than that.

"If Elliot told you it looked like a chestnut, I would go with that, since he was looking at it the most and he was closest to it," Betty said, bowing to Elliot's opinion that the object was chestnut shaped since she had used her hands to block out the light, preventing her from getting a clear view for very long.

Nuckie paused the interview for a moment as an idea popped into his mind, one that he wanted to research to see if it was possible. "Was there any noise?" Nuckie inquired, trying to figure out if it could have simply been a low flying muggle helicopter that had simply been flying above the water, rather than coming out of it. "Did you hear anything when it flew out of the water?"

"No, it was quiet," Barney said, recalling how silent the object flew-it nearly snuck up on him if it wasn't for Elliot pointing it out. "It was quieter than a plane would be."

Nuckie nodded and took notes of what Barney had said, inwardly a tad disappointed that the lack of noise would rule out his helicopter hypothesis. "What happened next?"

"The two beings reentered the object and it took off again, before we lost view of it in the clouds," Barney replied, reaching the end of his memories regarding the experience. It had only lasted a few minutes, so what he knew about it was relatively limited in comparison to many other sightings.

"It was cloudy that night?" Nuckie said, looking up from his notes, a thought entering his mind. Perhaps, he reasoned, the brightness was just a trick of the mind and instead of coming from the object itself, it could have just been a beam of light that peeked through the clouds.

"It was slightly drizzling, yes," Betty nodded in the affirmative, recalling that her clothes were wet when she got home later that night.

"What do you believe it was?" Nuckie asked Betty, wanting her opinion on what she had seen.

"Don't know, don't care," Betty replied with a shrug, not nearly as patient with the situation as Barney. She did not want her reputation tarnished, even a little bit, by talking about UFOs and little green men from Mars. Instead, she wanted a normal life, one that was filled with normal things. "We ignored it, but Elliot didn't want to do the same. I love the guy, but his curiosity isn't something I like."

"And what about you?" Nuckie asked, flicking his gaze over to Barney, who was quietly drinking his juice.

"Same, I don't know what it was, I haven't really thought about it and I don't intend on thinking about it," Barney answered, putting his glass down on the table and crossing his arms over his chest. "I just filed it away as a shooting star, that's all."

Nuckie bit his lip in thought, trying to think about another question to ask. He had most of the information already accounted for, but there was one thing that he had yet to ask. "Was there anything out of the ordinary that night? Did you see anything on the lake that made you look around or anything like that?"

"Nope, it was calm," Barney said, knowing that he would have never gone out on the lake if something was amiss. "It started to rain just as we were taking the boat out of the water, with it hitting its peak just as the UFO came into view."

Cognizant of the fact that his ten minutes were up, Nuckie finished up his notes and placed his notebook back in his jacket pocket, having gotten all that needed from the pair. "Did you tell anyone about this?"

"No," Barney said with a snort, as if the idea was absurd. He lived a perfectly normal life and wanted to keep it that way, rather than have people make snide comments or snicker behind his back. "Neither of us did."

"So no friends or family of yours know about this?" Nuckie asked, wanting to be sure that they were truthful in their statement and not saying it to get him to leave more quickly.

"Nope," Betty shook her head, assuring Nuckie that they hadn't. "We're trying to keep this between us as best as we can."

Nuckie gave a small smile at that pronouncement, appreciating their complete lack of belief in comparison to Elliot. "Do you have any pictures?"

"We didn't have our cell phones," Betty replied, shaking her head in the negative once again. "I had just put them in the car when we saw it."

Nuckie cocked an eyebrow at them both, looking between them. "So you have no sort of evidence for this encounter?"

"No, and we don't want any," Barney replied calmly, though Nuckie could see he was losing patience with the topic of conversation.

"Very well," Nuckie said, rising to his feet and taking out his wand. He pointed in between Barney and Betty's head, wanting the spell to affect them both.

"What the..." Barney started confusedly, before there were two flashes of light. He blinked his eyes a few moments later and looked over to his fiancée, not remembering what he was doing in the kitchen when he should have been working. "What time will dinner be ready?" He questioned, rising to his feet and readying himself to go back to work.

"I...I...I don't know," She replied, slowly shaking her head in order to gain her bearings. "Have we eaten lunch yet?"

After Nuckie entered his car outside of their home, he drove back to the center of the town, where he parked his car on the main street once again. Seeing a diner named "Rachel's" in the distance, he decided to stop for lunch, knowing that he would be able to figure the situation out more easily on a full stomach. After the short walk, he entered the small diner; it smelled of coffee and french-fries, two staples in the diner cuisine. Not seeing anyone sitting customers, he decided to take a seat at a corner table, where he would be able to look out of the window and at the town outside. He figured he would be able to gather the most information at that table, whereas anywhere else would limit him to simply looking at the diner alone.

Upon sitting, he reached for the menu that was nestled against the wall, searching for what he wanted to eat. However, upon staring at the various items, his thoughts were drawn back to the case and he took out his notepad, starting to peruse his notes instead, hoping that he had missed something from earlier. "What will it be, stranger?" A brown-haired waitress said after a few minutes, coming over to Nuckie's table to take his order.

"Oh," Nuckie started distractedly, turning his attention away from his notes and to the menu that was opened next to him. "I guess I'll have a chicken salad sandwich with curly fries, extra crispy, please."

"And to drink?" The waitress questioned, writing his order down in her book.

"Hot chocolate?" Nuckie smiled, craving a nice cup of hot cocoa at that moment. While it wasn't quite cold enough for it yet, it was his favorite drink so he decided to make an exception, feeling like treating himself to something sweet.

"Coming up," The waitress grinned with a wink, before walking over to service counter and putting the order in to the cook behind the pass.

He pocketed his notebook, deciding he'd take the time to relax his mind. As such, he gazed around the diner and out of the window, to the town outside, hoping to learn of something, anything that would help in his investigation. The town looked very much like any other small muggle town, without any apparent signs of magical activity. There was a general store, a post office, a doctor's office, a sheriff's station, a lawyer's office, and the diner on the main street, which seemed to be the place of socialization in the town as it was relatively bustling outside. There was nothing strange about it, nothing that would say that this town was masking magical activity, which confused him a bit.

He gazed at some of the people that were walking down the street, wondering if one of them was hiding something. Most forms of statute of secrecy breaches were done in the person's hometown or area where they lived, which to Nuckie meant that there was probably a wizard or a witch somewhere in town that was hiding their true ancestry. However, without a general idea of where one lived, it was hard to pinpoint the home of a wizardkind, especially if that person did not use any magic around the property. As such, he knew that he would have to narrow down the area of the town where one lived if he was to find out the person behind the sighting.

Sighing, he looked down at the notes that he had taken during all of the interviews, changing his mind frame—instead of trying to figure out who it was, he instead began to see if he could figure out what the witnesses had seen itself. Since he still wasn't quite sure if it even was magical or not, he didn't want to devote anymore time to that pursuit, instead reasoning that if he hung around for a few more hours, something would come to him and he'd figure it out. To that end, he spent the next ten minutes or so thinking of things that in the magical world that could be construed as a UFO.

As the waitress placed his food down on the table, his list was mostly blank, failing to come up with anything that would mimic the UFO's traits as described by the witnesses, that is: chestnut shaped, glowing, and relatively silent. While he knew that some charms could make a helicopter run silent and even make it glow, he doubted very much that muggle witnesses would mistake a helicopter for anything but a helicopter. Plus, none of the witnesses mentioned anything about the uptake of wind that came with a helicopter, which meant that it most likely was not a helicopter. Seeing his food, he closed his notebook and began eating, hoping that something would pop into his mind.

He sat there eating for nearly a half an hour, taking his time to enjoy his meal. His decision to skip breakfast was seemingly the wrong one, as he started to think much more clearly when the food began to give him the much needed energy. After studying his notes and all he knew about the case one more time, he decided on a plan of action, one that included asking around the neighbourhood to see if he could discern whether there were any wizards and witches around the area. If there weren't, he would spend no more time on the case as that was not his area anymore but instead the muggle investigatory unit

"Would you like some more hot chocolate?" The waitress said, coming up to the table that Nuckie had been using, grabbing Nuckie's attention.

Nuckie looked down into his cup and saw that it was empty for the first time. "Sure," Nuckie nodded with a smile, not being able to say no to another cup.

"Mom, hot chocolate at five!" The waitress called out, before turning her attention back to Nuckie and giving him a small grin.

"She's your mother?" Nuckie said, following the waitress's line of vision to the woman that stood behind the counter.

"Yup," The waitress nodded, shifting her gaze back to her mother, who was attending a customer that was at the counter. "And she's the owner of this fine establishment."

"It is a fine establishment; the chicken salad was quite good," Nuckie laughed, having been impressed with the quality of the food. While the décor of the place left a lot to be desired, the tastiness of the food was beyond reproach. "One of the best I've ever had. I take it that she's Rachel?"

"No, that's actually me," She smiled, admitting that her mother had named the diner after her daughter, rather than herself. "So what brings you here?" Rachel questioned conversationally, putting her pen behind her ear and her pad in her back pocket.

Thinking quickly, Nuckie's mind conjured up a story for him to tell, hoping to be able to use it to his advantage. "I'm a writer and I was passing by after attending a funeral, and I saw the paper and thought that this could be an interesting place," Nuckie shrugged, wanting to be conversational, but not give his true purpose away. Most people were hestitant to talk to someone like him, fearful that they would be taken away by the government or looked at as a crazy person, so in order to avoid that, he made up a backstory that was as innocuous as possible.

"Have you written anything that I would know?" The waitress asked, curious as to what he wrote about.

"Not with my name on it," Nuckie lied, giving a small grin, charming grin to her. "So do you get a lot of UFO sightings around here? Or was it just that one weirdo?"

"Just one weirdo," The woman laughed, having assumed from the start that was what Nuckie had been referencing. "I've never heard of any UFOs around here before this, and I've lived here my entire life."

Nuckie nodded, biting his lip in thought as he realized what he had found in the waitress. She was perfect to get information from: she worked in the center of town, which meant that she saw a lot of people throughout the day, and she had lived there her entire life, which meant that she probably knew a lot about the history of the area, allowing him to broadly question her. "Have you seen anyone, I don't know, suspicious or curious around town lately?" Nuckie questioned, hoping that he could get a lead as to someone who would either fake a UFO sighting or be the reason behind it in other ways. "What I mean to say is, is there anyone that doesn't exactly fit in? Someone you've never seen before that has recently entered town, perhaps?"

"No," The woman shook her head, not recalling anyone that fit the description. "Not that I know about." The waitress looked over to her mother, who was just bringing the cup of hot chocolate to the table. "Mom, do you know of anyone curious around town?"

"Curious? No, weird maybe, but not curious, except for those two young girls that have pink and purple hair," The older woman said, placing the cup of hot chocolate down onto the table. She flicked her gaze over to her daughter, a pensive expression on her face as she tried to think of someone.

"Yeah, if you're looking for weird, there is that one guy that acts like he's in KISS and then there's that one hippie," The woman's daughter agreed with a chuckle, having always laughed when the man acted like a member of the band KISS entered the diner. "The one that dresses like it's the 60s. You never see him except those few times he goes to the marina."

Nuckie cocked an eyebrow at the mention of the marina, presuming the waitress meant the one where the sighting had taken place. "Do you know the man she's talking about?" Nuckie asked the older lady, seeing if her mother could corroborate the story.

"You mean the one who wears 60s clothes? Yes," The woman nodded with an amused countenance, saying, "We don't see him often, but word is he lives on the estate at the end of the Rendlesham Drive. He's just eccentric, I think. I mean, we never see him buy anything around town or anything like that, so he has to have someone bring it to him or something. He's never come into the diner as far as I know."

"Thanks, I'll take a look at him," Nuckie said appreciatively, writing down the name of the street in his notebook. It sounded as if it was a good lead—many wizards and witches dressed strangely to muggle eyes, having basically no experience living in the muggle world and not knowing any better. Their attire could be outdated by generations, but because they only entered the muggle world every so often, they are left clueless as to that fact. "You two did not witness anything strange the other night, did you?"

"Not that I can remember," The waitress said in the negative, shaking her head after seeing her mother agree with her assessment. "It was pretty normal. It was raining hard, but that's about it."

"Very well, thank you for your time," Nuckie smiled, happy that he wouldn't have to erase their memory, before finishing up his hot chocolate and rising from his chair. The waitress put his

"It was good meeting you," The waitress said, placing Nuckie's check down onto the table and walking back to the counter with her mother.

"You too," Nuckie whispered, placing a money down to cover the bill and exiting the diner and entering the street once more.

He looked back and forth down the street, inwardly wondering where he should go. He didn't exactly feel confident with the information that he had received from the waitress and her mother just yet, and wished to get another opinion on the matter, hoping to have it conferred by another resident before he made the journey to see the man for himself. So to that end, he searched for someone that he could interview, someone that would hopefully agree or disagree with the information. Seeing a small park, he figured there would be someone there to which to speak and discuss the topic.

As he headed towards the park, he walked up to a man that was sitting on a bench right outside of the entrance, seemingly waiting for a bus or a ride. "Hello, sir, I was wondering if I could talk to you for a moment," Nuckie said with a smile on his face, hoping to make the man as comfortable as he could. Through his experience, he knew that comfortable people often spoke in greater detail than those that were afraid or concerned, which is why he used the more open approach than did many of his colleagues.

"About what?" The man questioned, staring at Nuckie worriedly, presuming correctly that he was some sort of government agent.

"My name is Agent Pike," Nuckie replied, flashing his badge for the man to see. "I've gotten word about a man that lives on Rendelsham Drive, who is apparently relatively strange. I was wondering if you knew anything about this fellow."

"Rendlesham?" The man said, furrowing his brows, trying to think. "The guy at the end of it, you mean? Everyone likes to judge people these days, don't they? Calling him a hippie, weird, curious, whatever have you; he's just a guy like the rest of us."

"So you've never noticed anything strange about him?" Nuckie said, raising a questioning eyebrow, sensing a dislike of judgment from the man, as if he had been judged himself and did not want anyone to judge anyone else because of it.

"I don't know him all that well; I've rarely ever seen him around town." The man shrugged disinterestedly, not being able to answer what Nuckie had asked as thoroughly as others probably could. "But no, I wouldn't say he's strange."

Nuckie's eyes flicked down to the man's blue shirt, which had the log of a guitar company on its front, though Nuckie couldn't decipher which company. "What about a guy that likes the band KISS? Do you know him?" He inquired, wondering if his intuition was correct.

"Who doesn't like KISS?" The man replied with a smirk. "There's nothing wrong with liking the band."

"Good point," Nuckie whispered, realizing that this was most likely the man that the waitress had spoken about, the one that dressed like a band member. "Do you know anything about the UFO sighting that happened the other night?"

"Just from what I read in the paper," The man replied, recalling having read about the sighting the day prior. "It sure didn't look like a UFO in that picture."

"Very well," Nuckie nodded, wondering if this hippie was indeed a wizard or not. If this guy thought the hippie was just like the rest of them, then maybe he was wrong and the man really was just a muggle, albeit an eccentric one rather than an out of touch wizard. Even still, he thought it might be worth a shot being that he had no other leads anyway, and the KISS man seemed perfectly normal. "One last question if you don't mind: where is this Rendlesham Drive?"

"Take this road till Pleasant, make a right and then it'll be on the third or fourth left," The man replied, pointing with his fingers in the direction that Nuckie needed to go.

"Thank you," Nuckie nodded appreciatively, before walking off and heading towards his car, making the decision that he had heard enough to check the man out for himself.

He unlocked the door and entered the sedan, turning the ignition and driving off in the direction that the man had pointed. Upon arrival, he found that Rendlesham Drive had no outlets, instead ending in a cul-de-sac that led to a large property. He parked at the top of the street, deciding that he would walk his way down, intent on trying to see if he could feel any magic or the see any signs of magic along the walk. Almost immediately, he saw a young woman walking a dog, so he crossed the street in an effort to talk to her. "Ma'am, may I talk to you for a moment, please? I just have a few questions," Nuckie questioned politely, not wanting to disturb her any longer than he needed.

"Not if you continue to call me ma'am," The woman joked with a smile, not thinking that she looked old enough to be called ma'am just yet. Perhaps when she entered her thirties, but that was a few years away for her. "What is it?"

"I was wondering if you knew the man that lived at the end of the street," Nuckie inquired, gesturing for the large property that was in the distance, the outskirts of which he could just make out from his position.

"Ah, know him, no, not really; I see him around his property a lot, but I don't know him, no," The woman replied, flicking her eyes between the property and Nuckie. "He doesn't appear to be very social, but I've had no problems with him and I've lived two houses down from him for around ten years now."

"Would you call him strange?" Nuckie asked simply, knowing that if anyone would know if the man was out of the ordinary, it would be someone who lived in close proximity to him. Confusing noises and odd smells were the things that he wanted to know about as they often showed evidence that a non-muggle lived in the area.

"Yes," The woman said in agreement, recalling the last time that she had seen him when he wore a tie-dyed outfit that looked awful on him. "He dresses like my parents did in college."

A small smile curled on Nuckie's face, the image of a wizard wearing outdated clothing popping into his mind. "And he lives just down there?" Nuckie questioned, looking down the street to the house that was in the distance.

"Ah, yeah, just about," The woman nodded, becoming a tad suspicious all the sudden "Who are you by the way?"

"My name is Agent Pike," Nuckie smiled, looking down the street each way, shifting his gaze all about. Seeing that nobody was around to witness his actions, he took out his wand, gave it a few twirls, and said, "But you won't remember that." Suddenly, there was a flash of light, and when the glaze from the spell left the woman's eyes, Nuckie was all the way down the street already, simply a distant memory that she would barely recall.

The estate at the end of the street that Nuckie entered was a strange mix of disrepair and splendour. Its grandeur was not lost on Nuckie, but the lands were littered with various objects that took away from its beauty. Off to the side, near a wooded area stood a large garage, which seemed to be more of a converted barn than an actual garage meant for an automobile. Even still, leading up to this garage were tire tracks, set into the muddied grass that was surrounding it. He moved his gaze all around the tracks, searching for their path, but after a few moments of studying, found nothing—it was as if they appeared from nowhere. He bent down and studied the tracks more closely, wanting to see if there was anything unusual about them other than there not being a clear path of entrance. He saw a few pieces of grass that were covered in a mud that was colored blue, rather than brown, which made him curious as to what the blue was.

Wanting to take a closer look inside the garage, he walked over to the barn door and took out his wand. Muttering a spell, he tapped the wooden door and watched as it sprung open, revealing the contents inside. In the center of it sat an old car, one with a rounded shape, which from a distance and under the cover of darkness, surrounded by the right circumstances, could perhaps be seen as a spaceship. Outside of the car, the barn was relatively empty, with no tools or muggle artifacts to be seen, a suspicious fact in Nuckie's mind.

He meandered over to the car, noticing there was a thick layer of yellow, blue and green dust on it. He ran a finger over it, and brought it up to his nose, giving it a smell. Then, bringing his finger to his tongue, he tasted it, which immediately twisted his face in displeasure. He recognized the taste immediately; it was one that he had enjoyed many times as a child. With his face still twisted, he bent down and scanned the tires, wanting to confirm his suspicions, and saw that they were covered in mud that also had a sprinkle of yellow, blue, and green dust caked into it.

He exited the barn and closed the door behind him. Knowing that he had to confront the owner of the house, he made his was towards the large house that was further in the property. As he walked, he looked around the rest of the property with his gaze, trying to see if he could see anything out of place. He noticed that there was a small pond in the distance, green in color, which looked to have been manmade. He walked up the stairs before crossing the porch to the front door of the house and giving the bronze knob a twist as a test—it did not open. With a neutral expression on his face, he gave the door a few loud knocks, before taking a step back and patiently waiting for the owner to come, thinking about what he was going to say all the while.

There was a sudden noise from behind the door with Nuckie likened to footsteps, before there was some jiggling of the knob. "Whatever it is, I'm not interested," A man in his mid-thirties suddenly said through the thin opening of the door.

"I'm not a salesman," Nuckie replied, taking out his badge and waving it in front of the man. "My name is Agent Pike and I'm here to ask you a few questions, that's all."

"Questions about what?" The man inquired, looking at Nuckie with an apprehensive gaze.

"About an event that happened around the area a couple of nights ago," Nuckie answered calmly, knowing that he needed to get inside the house in order to question the man about magic. "Can I come inside?"

"Ah," The wizard said, looking behind him, as if he needed to get rid of something before granting entrance. "One second." He muttered, closing the door to block out Nuckie's view. From his spot on the stoop, Nuckie could just hear a murmuring, before the door popped open again. "Come in."

"Thank you," Nuckie nodded as he walked into the living room. It was a grand room: the furniture was expensive wooden antiques, the walls were covered in portraits of aged people, and most curious of all, it completely eschewed any muggle technological devices at all. There was no television, computer, or phone, instead it simply had a few lamps, though Nuckie did not know if they actually worked as they did not appear to be plugged into any outlet, and one small radio that was on an end table. Nuckie narrowed his gaze at the radio, giving it a look over, before a small smirk appeared on the corners of his mouth.

"So you mentioned an event…" The man said, standing on the opposite side of the room, clearly wanting to get Nuckie out of the house as quickly as possible.

"Yes, down by the lake, I'm sure you've heard about it," Nuckie said, turning his attention away from the room itself and back to the man.

"I don't read the paper, sorry," The man replied, shaking his head in the negative. "I don't get out much, you see."

Nuckie nodded understandingly, inwardly noting that most wizardkind did not read the muggle paper either. "Well, it was quite intriguing; eye witnesses say they saw a UFO," Nuckie explained with a small smile, watching the man's reaction closely in an effort to identify any suspicious behavior.

"UFO?" The man replied in a confused term, not knowing what the term meant.

"Unidentified flying object," Nuckie returned easily, patiently allowing the evidence against the man to mount. "But I think we both can identify the object: it was a car, no?"

"A car?" The man said with a laugh, shifting in his seat a bit at the mention of a flying car. "Didn't you say the object was flying? Cars can't fly."

"Not usually, no, but there have been instances where wizards charm a car to be able to do so," Nuckie answered informatively, having heard about such cases a few times before. While it wasn't common, there were some ancillary members of the wizarding society that tried to enhance muggle technology with magic, disregarding the laws against such actions.

"Wizards?" The man laughed, apparently amused by such a suggestion. "Surely you jest." 

"So that's not Australian Glow Powder out there covering that car?" Nuckie presented with a raised eyebrow, wondering how the man would react to his pronouncement.

"What is that?" The man replied ignorantly, similarly to how he responded to the term UFO: as if he did not recognize it.

"Oh, okay," Nuckie nodded amusedly, now fully in the thought that this man was indeed a wizard. "But the thing is, if you don't know what Australian Glow Powder is, then I guess that's not a wizarding wireless on that table right there?" Nuckie proposed, watching in the corner of his eye as a portrait switched its crossed legs from the left to the right as the occupant shifted in his seat.

"Of course not," The man shook his head in the negative. "I have no idea what that even is. It's simply a portable radio."

Nuckie smirked at the man's answer, having found in his experience that a muggle would have immediately responded with confusion about what a wizarding wireless was, rather than immediately know he was talking about the radio. "And the fact that you wear outdated clothing and styles by about fifty years?"

"I like my style," The man said with little emotion and a shrug, as if he actually didn't care that his style was outdated—or didn't know any better.

"Interesting," Nuckie nodded with a small smile, thoroughly finding how idiotic it was for the man to deny his wizarding heritage when the amount of evidence pointing to it was staggering. "What about the fact that your door doesn't have any locks but yet I couldn't open the door for myself and had to knock?"

"It gets suck sometimes," The man shrugged once more, trying to appear calm. However, the accumulated sweat on his forehead as nervousness started to overtake him betrayed his cool demeanor. "But I really should put a lock on it, you're right. It's dangerous out there."

Nuckie nodded, looking around the room and seeing that the portrait had once again switch its legs. "And that portrait didn't just switch the legs that she was crossing?" Nuckie questioned as he pointed towards a portrait of a witch that was reading a book, though the man did not answer, instead deciding to stay silent on the issue.

A quietness overcame the room, neither Nuckie nor the man speaking, each not giving an inch on their stances. "Achoo!" A voice suddenly circled through the room, though it did not come from any of the occupants.

"Bless you," Enoch said to the portrait of a wizard behind him, one that hadn't moved until that point. Then, looking back to the man in front of him, he gave a smile, "You sure you don't know what Australian Glow Powder is?"

"Nope," The wizard said slowly once more, shaking his head in the negative.

"Oh, Merlin, this is just too stupid for real life," Nuckied sighed, rubbing his forehead as he tried to calm his growing impatience. "I have pointed out a litany of magical things, clearly I'm not a muggle, and yet you still won't admit it."

Silently, the wizard looked down at the floor, biting his lip, before his gaze moved upwards to Nuckie's eyes. "Is Glow Powder illegal to own or something?" He finally said, barely above a whisper though Nuckie heard him clearly.

"No, of course not, but it is illegal to use it in such a way to breach the Statute of Secrecy," Nuckie replied politely, hoping to calm the man enough to admit the UFO was his doing. "If you tell me the story, it'll be easier for you afterwards."

"I was just trying to see if there were any merrows in the lake, that's all, I swear!" The wizard exclaimed, fessing up that he was the cause of the UFO sighting.

"First off, what is your name?" Nuckie questioned, his tone changing to one more suitable to conversation. He wasn't there to get the wizard in trouble, but instead just to prevent the breach of secrecy, and as long as the wizard was humble about it and worked with him, he had no problem being lenient in the proceedings.

"Lachlan Hubble," The wizard answered without hesitation, revealing his identity.

"A Hubble?" Nuckie replied, recognizing the name, earning a nod from Lachlan. "What happened?"

"Like I said, I wanted to see if the rumors were true and that there were a colony of merrows in the lake." Lachlan started, relaying the impetus for his adventure. "So to do that, I purchased an automobile from the muggles and enchanted it to be able to submerge itself in the water and I used it to go down there like that muggle contraption."

"What muggle contraption?" Nuckie whispered as he furrowed his brows, trying to think of what Lachlan meant. "A submarine, you mean?"

"Yeah, that one," Lachlan replied with a nod, agreeing with Nuckie. "I performed the necessary spellwork on the automobile myself…"

"And what about the powder?" Nuckie interrupted, wanting to know where that came into the plan.

"I used the glow powder so I could see down there," Lachlan continued, earning a look of understanding from Nuckie. "But then the merrows attacked us, so I had to fly out of the water to protect myself. I didn't mean to be seen by the muggles, honest. That's why I did it at night time. I was careful, just not careful enough, I swear to Merlin."

Nuckie nodded along with the story, not seeing any piece of it that didn't fit. If the car was completely covered by glow powder and it was raining, he could see how the car would be so bright that muggles wouldn't be able to get a good look at it and instead say it was a UFO. "Why did you land and not continue flying?"

"A window cracked in the attack, so I had to land and let the water out or else we would have crashed." Lachlan replied, relaying how he had almost lost control of the car due to the excessive amount of water inside. "That, or maybe even drowned."

Nuckie looked at Lachlan, believing his story and finding it extremely plausible. The only questions that were left were who was with Lachlan at the time of the sighting and what made the muggles think they were aliens. "And the alien-looking person that was with you?"

"Roger, you can show yourself," The wizard called out, and just as said it, a house elf started to appear in the corner of the room.

Nuckie's eyes flicked over to the elf, a surprised expression on his face as he had not expected an elf to show itself like that. The elf was small in stature, with a light tan skin, long arms and short legs. His head was oversized and his eyes large and yellow, appearing very much like lemons. From a distance, masked by the brightness of the glow powder and hidden by the shadows of the trees behind him, Nuckie could see how a house elf could be mistaken for an alien, having seen pictures of what muggles believed to be grey aliens a couple of times before, which in all honesty, looked somewhat like house elves.

"Am I going to go to prison?" The wizard questioned quietly, wondering if Nuckie was going to arrest him. He had never been in trouble before, and he had taking all the precautions he could to prevent himself from being seen, so the prospect of being detained in prison was daunting and terrifying to him.

"You could, yeah, for up to a year or two," Nuckie answered honestly, giving the wizard a small frown. "Breaching the Statute of Secrecy is a serious offense, Mr. Hubble."

"Please, don't send me there!" Lachlan pleaded, making Nuckie look down at the floor, biting his lip as he listened to Lachlan's desperate exclamations. "Please!" The wizard pleaded once more, the emotion in his voice even more evident than before. "I'm begging you!"

Nuckie continued to think about it, before looking back up, coming to a decision. "I can say that it was an accident and not an intentional breach, while that will keep you out of prison, you'll owe a fine even still."

"How much?" Lachlan questioned quickly, grateful to be given the opportunity by Nuckie. While his family were once wealthy, he was not a rich man on his own, but he was willing to pay however much it would take in order to keep himself out of prison, even if it forced him into poverty afterwards.

"It depends on how big I say the accidental breach was," Nuckie replied with a shrug, knowing that he would have to say something in order to keep his own job—while he was willing to help Lachlan, he was unwilling to risk his own future for it. "I can't ignore this entirely, it's too big for that, but I promise I'll try to lighten it up as much as I can for you."

"Thank you, thank you!" The wizard cried, happy that he wouldn't be in as much trouble as he could have been. "I'll owe you one. And I'm a man of my word!"

"Just don't do it again," Nuckie chided as he headed towards the door, content with the outcome of the case. "You have a pond out there; look into the Aquaportus Charm for any of your next adventures into the lake."

"Thank you again! I promise, anything you need, ever, just ask, and I'll be there," Lachlan promised, knowing that he owed Nuckie a lifetime debt, one that he intended on paying back, no matter the cost.

"No problem," Nuckie called back, opening the door and taking a step out onto the porch. "You'll be getting an owl from the Ministry in a few days. Be sure to answer it." He watched Lachlan give a nod and a wave, before exiting the house entirely and closing the door behind him.

As he walked to the edge of the property, he paused and made his way over to the garage. He grabbed his wand, opened the door and walked to the car in the center of the barn. With his wand still in his hand, he tapped the car two times, and said, "Finite Incatatem." Then, sweeping his wand through the air, he whispered, "Evanesco." Happy with the results, he exited the barn and walked back to his car, hopeful that the ride back would not be a difficult one.

An hour or so later found Enoch walking into his office, ready to file his report of the event. "You're back already?" His boss, Indrid Frost, said as he came over with a mug of coffee in his hand.

"Just arrived," Nuckie nodded, as he placed his things on top of his desk. He took a seat at his desk, closing his eyes in relaxation for a moment before he started on his report.

"Follow me," Indrid gestured, returning to his private office, making Nuckie get back to his feet. "So what did you find out?" Indrid questioned, taking a seat behind his desk and looking back up at the agent in front of him. He took a sip of his coffee as he waited for Nuckie to tell his story.

"Well," Nuckie started, relaying the events that he had gathered throughout the day. He detailed all that he had learned, from the various stories of the witnesses to the confession from Lachlan, leaving out only the things that would more incriminate Lachlan. "It was an accidental breach, levy him a level three fine and check up on him in a few months," Nuckie finished his story, looking over at his boss with a neutral expression.

"Is that your full account of the events? Should I put it on the record?" Indrid asked, raising a curious eyebrow. It was clear to him that Nuckie wasn't telling the entire story, but he trusted Nuckie, so he did not mind going with whatever it was Nuckie wanted to say.

"Yes," Nuckie nodded in the affirmative, preventing the smile from taking shape on his face.

"It is done," His boss said, stamping the top of the parchment with his seal and putting it at the top of the pile for the next day's work. Looking up at Nuckie in front of him, he gave him a smile, knowing full well that Nuckie was hiding something. "Okay, now that we have that settled, what about off the record?"

"It was actually a really clever plan," Nuckie grinned amusedly, appreciating Indrid's trust in him. Indrid treated him like a colleague and a friend, rather than a subordinate that was ordered around. "He wanted to see the bottom of the lake to see if there were any merrows, and in order to do that, he covered his car in Australian Color Powder to see in the dark."

"Clever," Indrid agreed with a nod, seeing the creativity in using a child's toy to accomplish one's goals. Child playthings usually had great magic in them and it took a special wizard to concoct something that is magically interesting enough to keep the attention of a young child.

"Anyway, I'm out of here, I'll see you tomorrow," Nuckie said, seeing that it was past five o'clock and his shift was over.

"Bye," Indrid waved, returning to his work to finish it up for the day so he too could go home.

Nuckie exited the office, and walked over to his desk in order to grab his things to leave. "How was the lake?" A female with red hair said, as she turned around in her chair, her desk a few feet in front of Nuckie's.

"If only I was there for that," Nuckie smiled, as he grabbed his briefcase and prepared himself to go home. "I could use a nice tan."

"I'm sure you could," The redhead replied with a grin, watching as Nuckie came around his desk and headed towards the exit. "See you tomorrow, Agent Pike."

"Have a nice night, Agent Scally," Nuckie waved, before pausing at the door to look back at the redhead. "Try not to work too late tonight." Seeing her wink back at him, he gave a laugh and walked through the door and down the stairs, saying goodbye to a few friends as he left.

As Nuckie exited the office building, which served as a front for a satellite headquarters for the magic department, and started the walk to his home, he couldn't help but shake his head at the strangeness of the day. Every case of his wasn't about UFOs and aliens, but he had tackled some absurdly strange cases throughout his career and the case he experienced that day was no exception. It was something that he would never be able to get used to, he knew, the various oddities that each day brought, but it was also something that made his life all the more interesting, and as such, he wouldn't have his life any other way.

He walked slowly as he made his way home, weaving in and out of the passing people, muggles all leaving work just as he had. He paused on the sidewalk a block away from his condominium for a moment, as his eyes shifted over to a pizza place. With his stomach growling in hunger, he decided to grab a slice for dinner, knowing full well that tomorrow would bring another curious case into his life. After all, it was Halloween time, and all the beasts, beings, and monsters of the world came out of hiding for that night and all muggles had a story of ghosts, goblins and ghouls to tell, which would inevitably bring a case for him to investigate.

A/N: Not that it'll be important, but the city that Nuckie lives in is Chicago so the lake town was on the Wisconsin/Illinois border.


End file.
